By The Numbers: Week 4

I'll be doing a segment like this every couple of weeks, just to keep everybody updated on the Eagles, from a numbers standpoint.

Let's take a look at Sunday's thrilling victory over New York:
6-14: At the five minute mark of the 2nd quarter, Michael Vick was 6-14 for 78 yards. He finished the last 35 minutes with a statline of 13-16 for 163 yards and a touchdown.

99.4: Michael Vick's passer-rating Sunday. Very controlled, sharp performance from the QB.

121: LeSean McCoy had 2 yards rushing in the first half. Shady exploded though, 121 yards rushing in the second half, shredding the Giants defense.



Eagles celebrate a dramatic victory
on Sunday night

52.94: This was the percentage of run plays called by Marty Mornhinweg against the Giants. Out of 68 offensive plays, he dialed up 36 runs to only 32 passing plays.

7.5: Yards per carry from Stanley Havili's two rushes. Just a small sample, but the young fullback has played very well this season.

36.2: Average yards per kick return by Giants rookie David Wilson. Simply unacceptable.

3.0: Yards per carry allowed by the defense. Philadelphia's defense is lethal when it forces opponents to become one-dimensional.

Now let's take a look at the Eagles so far this season:

417.8: Offensive yards per game for the Eagles this season. The team is moving the ball up and down the field at will, now Vick just has to put together some more perrmances like he did this Sunday.

30th: Where the Eagles rank in points per game. Turnovers are the number one contributor to this. It must improve, 16.5 ppg is largely under-achieving.

6th: Where the Eagles rank in total defense. The defense is allowing 298.2 yards per game so far, and allowing 20.8 points per game.

26.9: Percentage of third down conversions for Philadelphia's defense. They are getting off the field on third down at a great rate, good enough to rank them third in the NFL.

Philadelphia has soared to the top
of the NFC East at the quarter mark

3rd: Where LeSean McCoy ranks in the NFL in total rushing yards.

2: Number of 40+ yard plays allowed by the defense this year. This is a huge improvement over last year. The 2011 defense had good moments, but allowed the big play far too often. This year, Philly is playing much more disciplined football.

333: Number of receiving yards for DeSean Jackson this year, good enough to rank him 11th in the NFL. The explosive wideout looks like his old self again this year, and Marty Mornhinweg is finding ways to get the ball in his hands despite defenses taking away the big play.

2nd: Where Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie ranks this year in interceptions. His three interceptions are second only to Tim Jennings from Chicago. No interception was bigger than his pick off Eli Manning in the endzone.


Follow me on Twitter @Matt_Chastain25 and @eaglesallday95, I'll get ya back.

Naked Eye: Week 4

I'm back! Sorry, I've been swarmed with work and school the past few days, but the blog is back.

Naked Eye is a weekly segment I'll be doing where I give my thoughts on the game after just watching the telecast. No film study yet, just instant observations and thoughts about the team's performance.

The Eagles played a clean game last night for the most part, it truly was a team victory. The drama was intense, most drama in a game I can remember since December 19, 2010. Let's take a quick look at the game:

Dawkins came out of the tunnel
one last time as an Eagle

- Brian Dawkins is still the heart and soul of the Philadelphia Eagles. No player has every connected with Eagles fans the way B-Dawk does.

- The O-Line really struggled in the first half but their play was outstanding in the second half. Andy Reid made good adjustments to slow down the Giants pass rush, leaving Celek and McCoy in to chip. Mathis had a couple huge blocks and I thought Demetress Bell really improved as the game went on.

- The run defense is so much improved over last year. The Eagles are using their safeties a lot in run support. This is effective, but risky at the same time. Philly is very susceptible to play-action because Nate Allen and especially Kurt Coleman bite on the fake. That's something that needs to improve moving forward.

- Fletcher Cox is a stud. He is a disruptive force and will only get better each game. Love what I've seen from the rookie.

- Ramses Barden's completion deep over Nnamdi Asomugha was once again not Nnamdi's fault. He was supposed to have safety help over top, so his job is to take away short and intermediate patterns. He did that, Coleman just bit hard on the play-action.

- It was good to see Alex Henery have a sharp game. He really hasn't made many pressure kicks in his short career, but he nailed a clutch 48-yarder to put the Eagles up 13-10. He finished the game 4-4.

- Let's give some props to our redzone defense. Remember the past three years when we were historically terrible inside the 20? It just proves how important good linebackers are.

Vick connected with Jackson in the
corner of the endzone for the TD

- Vick played his best game of the year. It wasn't explosive, like the Baltimore game, but he looked like an improved quarterback. Maybe it was just the play-calling or maybe it was Vick recognizing pressure and disposing the football. The turnover battle is such a big statistic at the end of games, it was nice to come out on the winning-end for once.

- Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg had one of their best games with play-calling. In the second half, they relied on the run game to ignite the offense and it was very effective. Philadelphia's offensive line is much more adept at run-blocking over pass-blocking. Also, Michael Vick is really one of the best QBs in the NFL when he has a dependable run-game.

- Nobody in the NFL can change direction like LeSean McCoy. Period.

* I'm going to study the film tomorrow evening and take a deeper look into the big plays of the game. These are just the things that caught my naked eye.

Extra Point: I have an interesting idea for a future post. I have a pretty good story about how I handled the last three minutes of the game and I want to hear your story. E-mail me at mmchastain1s@gmail.com with your reactions and actions during the last Giants drive or even throughout the game. I want to make another fan post because I want this to be an interactive blog. If I get at least five e-mails or tweets then I'll write the post.

Follow me on Twitter @Matt_Chastain25 and @eaglesallday95, I'll get ya back. Also, e-mail me at mmchastain1s@gmail.com.